BJP plan to divide Dalits backfires

Yogi Adityanath said that the government had taken this decision on an application by Chandrashekhar’s mother.

Chandrashekhar Azad.

Lucknow: The release of Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar from jail early on Friday morning, which was being seen as a masterstroke by the ruling BJP to divide the dalit voter base of the Bahujan Samaj Party, seems to have backfired with the released leader saying he had no differences with Ms Mayawati and that she was like a bua (aunt) to him. The Yogi Adityanath government had on Thursday ordered the release of Chandrashekhar two months before his sentence under the National Security Act ended. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath said that the government had taken this decision on an application by Chandrashekhar’s mother.

Chandrashekhar walked out of Saharanpur jail at 2.30.am on Friday and told reporters that his release from jail was due to the fact that the state government was scared that they would be “rebuked by the Supreme Court”. “I am sure that this government will again frame some charges against me and send me back to jail within 10 days. They want to keep me in jail till the Lok Sabha polls are over. However, till then I will ask my people to throw the BJP out of power in 2019”, he told reporters, making it clear that the BJP would continue to be his target.

Social activist S.R. Darapuri also said on Friday: “The release of Chandrashekhar is only because of the Supreme Court factor. The BJP has no sympathy for dalits.” The Bhim Army chief, while replying to a question, said he had no differences with Ms Mayawati as she had been fighting for the rights of dalits.